Brooklyn Heights

Brooklyn Heights is an affluent residential neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, located along the East River and near Downtown Brooklyn. The heights was used as a ferry, starting around 1642, and it was heavily fortified by the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; it was the site of the 27 August 1776 Battle of Long Island, also known as the "Battle of Brooklyn Heights". In 1816, Brooklyn Heights received a charter as a village, and it became a country retreat for Manhattan residents after 1823, making it the first commuter suburb. By 1890, the area was almost completely developed, as the 1883 construction of the Brooklyn Bridge facilitated accessibility to the heights. However, whole rows of brownstones were destroyed when the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was built during the 1940s and 1950s; activism to preserve Brooklyn Heights' culture succeeded in reviving the brownstone architecture of the heights. It became one of New York's most pleasant and attractive neighborhoods, and it had a population of 22,594 people in 2000; 77% of the population was white, 8% Hispanic, 7% African-American, 5% Asian, 2% multiracial, and 1% from other races.